The pagoda is situated at the foot of Bai Tho Mount in the Chua Long Tien Street, near Halong Market, in Quang Ninh Province. Built in 1941, Long Tien is the biggest pagoda and a well-known historical place in Halong City.

As is well-known, it was the birth place of Truc Lam, a Buddhist sect founded by Vietnam'ss King Tran Nhan Tong (1258-1308). Yen Tu has beautiful scenery but is very difficult to access, with a myriad of brooks, steep slopes, deep abysses, and small winding lanes leading, through forest of fir trees, to its cloudy top.